Grain car derailment cleanup continues, cause still unclear

Cleanup work continued last night on 2 grain cars that tipped over near State Street Tuesday morning. Puget Sound & Pacific crews told KXRO that they were using cranes to get the rail cars upright.

The Port of Grays Harbor says that the incident could have been worse if safety procedures weren’t followed.

Kayla Dunlap, Public Affairs for the Port said, “It is unfortunate when these events occur but the relatively low train speeds on the PSAP helped to minimize the impacted railcars to one or two. The G&W commitment to safety pays off in these situations as they demonstrate firsthand their ability to respond quickly and efficiently to minimize damage and delays to the community.”

Dunlap added, “the derailment has become the primary focus of the PSAP and Genesee & Wyoming (G&W) Western Region leadership as they begin repairing and investigating the incident. The Port is confident that the railroad will be proactive in their approach to investigating the incident to fully understand how and why the derailment occurred. From that point they will review and change operating procedures to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

Joel Haka, Western Region Vice President of Genesee & Wyoming Inc tells KXRO that this incident should not be directly related to the crude by rail reviews currently underway. “Crude transport will induce major upgrades to the PSAP and the use of high railing (trucks used for inspecting the track) will preclude all oil train movements over the PSAP.”

Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad is investigating the cause of the derailment.